Royston are looking to make it three promotions on the bounce after beating CCA Senior Two leaders Longstanton Grasshoppers by two wickets.

It’s been around a decade since the first team folded and the seconds were made the de-facto firsts, they have climbed six leagues from Junior Four already.

And, despite initially having reservations about life at this level, their win at the weekend has taken them to within just four points of the top of the table, and skipper Martin Leary believes that they have to be looking at a Senior One sport next season

“We’ve surprised ourselves this season,” he said. “Getting promoted from Junior One and then Senior Three, just staying up was the priority, but now we’re definitely looking at promotion.

“At the start of the season, we would have definitely taken mid-table if it was offered, but after four or five games this season we started to fancy it.

“Around 10 years ago the first team folded and the seconds became the firsts in Junior Four. We definitely have always had players that could player higher, but we figured Senior Two would be the right level, but Senior One could be a reality.”

One the day against Longstanton, Royston did well to limit the hosts to 205 on their home ground after they elected to bat first, with Pete Merell, Philip Hall and Bonham Harper all taking two wickets each as the Grasshoppers were all out after 45 overs.

Royston’s response got off to a difficult start, though, with both Paul Miller and Leary walking with the score at 13-2. But a knock of 82 by opener Paul Leary and a 57 not-out from 18-year-old Shahvaiz Younus helped them secure the win in the 45th over, posting 209-8.

And Martin Leary praised the performance of Paul Leary, who has more than 1000 runs to his name already this season.

“It was a pretty tight game between two evenly matches side which, given our positions in the table, was always going to be the case.

“It was a big win for us, It really closes the gap. We have actually won more games than them, they just played an extra one as one of theirs survived the rain.

“We lost two early wickets and Paul and Bonham rebuilt. Paul has been in fantastic form all season, then Shahvaiz came in at five and was really composed when wickets were falling all around him.

“They bowled really well to be fair, but I think our bowling performance that won it too, limiting them to 205 when they’ve been getting about 250 at home.”

Elsewhere in CCA Two, Godolphin beat Histon II by five wickets.

Histon batted first and posted 257-9 off 45 overs, with a ton from Stuart Cronin (103) and decent knocks from Adam Dalby (33) and David Ball (31).

A strong batting performance from the hosts, however, including 100 from Naseer Shabbir and a 58 for Zaheer Ahmed Dahri, saw them chase down the total, losing just five wickets in the process.